Always together
by Flower99Upendi
Summary: After the ceremony of King Kion, the young couple decide to take a stroll to have some alone time. Kion wanted to know about his mate's past since so long and now, he had the chance to ask her about it.


**So... here I am again xD I loved the end of The Lion Guard but of course... I wanted to know more about Rani´s past and her back story. I mean... How did she get her scar? What happen to her parents? So many questions xD I need to remind you that I am not an english speaker so you may find a few mistakes. I apologize for that. **

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The night was peaceful and quiet as the stars shined on the sky. The young king walked through the forest taking soft steps and breathing slowly, enjoying the calm air. He looked behind him and smiled to his new queen. She smiled back and approached him.

It hasn´t been a nice day at all for the young couple. Just a few hours ago, the Lion Guard´s family had said goodbye and they had gone back home, to the Pridelands. The farewell has been hard for Kion, who stayed alone for a while, and cried a few times. Of course, his friends were there for him as it hasn´t been easy for Bunga and Beshte to say goodbye to their parents as well. Fuli, Anga and Ono didn´t have much of that, but they were there also, offering all the support that they had.

That was the reason because Rani decided to do the night patrol with Kion. Just the two of them so they could speak and have some alone time for once. She wasn´t feeling nervous at all. The young queen just wanted the best for her mate. She felt awful when she saw him crying like that. At first, she didn´t know what to do. After thinking, she took the decision of having some alone time with him so they could talk about everything that has happened the past days.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him, breaking the silence.

"I´m fine. Better." Kion answered closing his eyes. "Thank you, Rani. You were right." He gently smiled.

She giggled and hold back the urge to hug him again. They weren´t the type of couple that liked to be close all the time like Kovu and Kiara were. Of course, after all the events, the couple needed a few of that, but they were just too shy to do it.

The pair looked at each other during a few seconds. Rani stared at his scar across his eye for a while, then she smiled when she saw the blue painting on his forehead, meaning that he was a King. Her king and mate. The sight made her feel blessed.

"You know… I always wanted to ask you something" Kion started and looked away.

"You can ask me anything"

"Yeah but… I don´t know. It´s not easy, you see…"

"You want to know about my past, isn´t it?"

He looked at her, surprised and then nodded. She sighed, closing her eyes. That moment was going to appear sooner or later and she knew it. Kion and her were married and there wasn´t supposed to be any secret between them.

"Don´t worry Kion. I won´t lie to you, I don´t like to talk about it. But… it is you and you deserve to know"

"No, no! Please, if you don´t feel comfortable…" He panicked and stutter when he heard her.

Rani walked quickly closer to him and hold his paw softly against her own.

"Kion! I swear it´s okay! Calm down!"

He breathed heavily and nodded after swallowing hard.

"I´m sorry. I just… I´m scared to do anything stupid" He blushed a bit when she smiled at him.

"Nothing stupid, my king" She winked at him and sat down. He imitated her and listened with attention as she opened her mouth to talk. "I was just a cub…"

_The royal family of the tree of life were full of love and life. Sahasi and Ananda raised their children with equality and respect for both of them. Rani felt like she was the happiest lioness in the world. She loved her parents, her brother, her grandmother, her uncle, her friends... She knew that she was going to be queen when she grew up. There was no hurry on her mind as she enjoyed her childhood as a normal cub would do. _

_Rani was full of nice memories. The birth of her younger brother, the arrival of Nirmala at the tree of life, all the nice animals that she met around the place, playing tag with her father. There was no sight of jealousy or evil in the place and everything was perfect for the royal family._

_But nothing last forever._

_They were aware that the tree of life was famous around the world and the attacks were also something regular. Not all animals had good intentions and Rani met for the first time that horrible thing called evil. Ananda and Sahasi made all the effort to prevent their princess to see the reality. And one day, she found out in the worst way ever. _

_Rani was hiding in the inside of the tree, holding little Baliyo between her paws._

"_I´m scared, sis" He trembled._

_She tried to hide the fact that she was shacking with fear and caressed the small tuff of mane on his head._

"_Don´t worry. Everything will be just fine" She said._

_Of course, Baliyo didn´t believe her, as her voice was trembling and he had the feeling that his big sister was about to cry. Suddenly, Nirmala entered the cave. Her eyes were wide open and of course, she was shaking as well._

_Both siblings immediately stood up and looked at her. _

"_How is it going, Nirmala?" Rani asked, praying to the great kings that her friend and future healer had good news. _

"_N-nothing. I mean… don´t worry Rani. Just… S-stay… here…" She stuttered._

_The roars and screams could be heard from there. Baliyo and Rani jumped at the sound of a painful roar. They knew that roar perfectly; it was their mother´s._

_The future queen´s eyes opened wide as she ran out of the tree. She ignored Nirmala´s screams that were pleading her to come back. She ran past Surak who stared at her in shock before running behind her._

"_Rani, come back here right now! It´s dangerous!" He yelled firmly, but her niece didn´t listened._

_The lioness finally arrived to the scene and, without thinking, she jumped to push away the attacker from her mother, who was lying on the ground. She knew that there were going to be consequences. That bad lion went for her. When Ananda finally got up and saw her daughter fighting with him, she immediately leaped toward them and protected her. That was her final action. _

_Rani wasn´t able to stand up. She felt a sharp pain on her front foreleg and saw a bloody line on it. Everything had happened so quickly. Suddenly, she saw her mother´s body on the ground, not moving, not breathing…_

_Her first instinct was to scream, but a familiar shape picked her up with it´s muzzle and dragged her away from there._

"_Let me go, Surak! I gotta help my mom!" She yelled desperately._

_Her uncle didn´t stop, ignoring her blows and struggling to get herself free from his grip. Surak dropped her inside of the tree next to a shacking Baliyo._

"_Stay here, Rani! Don´t move!" _

_Rani and Baliyo jumped with fear at their uncle yelling like that to them, it was the first time. The adult lion left and Rani broke down crying. Her brother had tears on his eyes as he hugged her, not wanting to face the truth. _

Kion was listening with eyes wide open. He couldn´t believe it. Indeed, Rani had had been through so many things and then, he felt ashamed of his behavior. Her problems were huger than his. The king saw her closing her amber eyes and shuddered.

"Are you okay?" He asked cautiously as he slowly approached her.

She opened her eyes and Kion thought for a moment that they were a little wet. She shook her head and nodded.

"I am fine. Let´s continue"

_After the funeral, the family did the best to support each other. Janna couldn´t believe it. She had lost her son and daughter in law in the same day. She felt destroyed but she also knew that crying wasn´t going to solve anything. So, in that moment, the tree of life had queen Janna again as their ruler. Nobody complained though, they loved her and Janna was very wise and a great queen._

_Her, Surak and Nirmala did the best to cheer both siblings. Baliyo was young and he could go through it very quickly. His sister didn´t have much luck. The young princess stayed all day inside of the tree. Not wanting to see anyone except of her family. She wasn´t eating much either and her body was becoming more and more delicate. _

_She cried almost everyday and the only thing that made her smile, was Baliyo. They used to stay in silence, holding each other in a warm embrace. Even though he was just a cub, he was mature enough to realize that his sister needed him. Rani also liked to spend nights on her grandmother´s paws. _

_The worst parts for her were when she heard the constant arguing._

"_She´s not eating. Not talking. Not even moving. What are we supposed to do, huh?"_

"_How should I know?"_

"_Then think! Or are we going to lose her too?!"_

_She covered her ears and cried harder when those things happened. She felt like she´d rather be gone, not existing anymore. Her body and soul were beginning to give up on her. Her family was devasted at their future queen´s condition._

"Hevi kabisa, Rani…" Kion couldn´t hold back the shock.

She sighed and sniffled slightly, too soft for Kion to hear. She wiped her eyes with her paw and shrugged.

"I feel kind of ashamed you know… you seeing me like this" She smiled weakly. "But… it´s part of me and you should know everything…"

He stared at her with clear surprise. What was she talking about? They were together and she shouldn´t feel ashamed of anything. Rani saw him going through so many things and fighting his scar. He was the one supposed to feel ashamed. Not her. He stood up and gave her a deep nuzzle. That did it, Rani couldn´t hold back the tears any longer. She closed her eyes and returned the gesture.

"If… if you don´t want to… we can just leave it here…" He mumbled.

"No" She whispered with her voice shaking. "I want to let it go and I insist… you deserve to know"

"Then let it go, I´m here for you"

He broke the hug and his heart sank when he saw her face wet and tears coming out of her eyes like a waterfall. Despite of that, he didn´t let his emotions take over and listened again.

_The family stayed strong. Not wanting to lose her princess, they took a decision._

"_The Night Pride?" She asked while rubbing her eyes._

_They managed to take her out to talk. She also ate a bit and took a bath at the river. The fresh water felt great._

"_Yes, my dear. I want you to lead it. Nirmala, Baliyo and Surak will help you with that. I know that you all can do it. In that way, you can keep the tree of life safe and remain the peace around"_

_She said yes, but kept her doubts inside her brain. Of course, she didn´t want to let her grandmother down, but she also had the urge to protect her home. Mean animals had taken her parents away from her and she wanted to avenge them since then._

_It was that night, when she couldn´t take it anymore. Her head was hurting and she wasn´t able to think clear. Rani needed advice… from her parents. She missed them so much._

"_Mom, dad… I wish to speak with you at least one more time…" She cried before letting the tears fall. "I´m not sure I can lead the Night Pride. It´s a big responsibility!"_

"Then I… saw them… uh…" Rani stuttered. "You know"

"You mean… you talked to them?" Kion asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, just like you with your grandfather"

Both smiled at each other.

"I can imagine how surprised you were. I been through it" Kion tried to joke.

"Oh yes, at first, I thought that I was dreaming" She let out a laugh that made Kion smile relieved. "But they were there, talking to me. They gave me advice… and that´s when I realized that I was destined to be a leader. Everything would be just fine… as long as I remain calm and confident. My whole family helped me"

_After that spiritual talk, everything changed for the better. Janna, Baliyo, Surak and Nirmala couldn´t be happier to see Rani being herself again. But it wasn´t the Rani they used to know. She was more serious, always putting her responsibilities before anything and protecting the tree of life from any threat. _

"_I promise, mom and dad… I won´t let anything bad happened to us and our home. I´ll protect this place with respect and strength"_

The queen finished her story and allowed herself to smile at Kion. He looked up at the stars, then back at her to finally, return the smile.

"So now you know why I was that… nasty with you" She shook her head, remembering that night. "But… I try to not be like that. I just… I lost my family, I can´t loose you too, Kion" Her voice broke for a moment, but she managed to stay still. "When you left… I didn´t show it but, go ask Baliyo. I couldn´t concentrate and do anything well having you so far away from me and not knowing if you were okay…" She sighed.

He looked down with a frown. He wasn´t aware of that. But he couldn´t help it, he felt like it was his fault. Rani saw him and seemed to read his mind.

"It´s not your fault, Kion. You did the right thing. Your family is very proud of you and as soon as we can, we are going to the Pridelands to visit them" She reassured him with a smile, feeling so much better.

"Thank you for telling me all of this. I bet it wasn´t easy for you. And that´s why I am thanking you. It is an honor to be your king and if you ever want to talk about anything else, I´ll be here. Remember that" He finally spoke.

She narrowed her eyes and they went wet again, but not from sadness. She hugged him again and purred softly against his chest. Said action made him smile and purr as well.

"Same to you, Kion. I´ll always be there for you. Thank you for listening. I… I love you"

"I love you too, and now, how about finishing our stroll" He smirked.

She nodded and ran away from him laughing.

"Oh yeah? We´ll see about that!" He laughed as well and chased her through all their kingdom.

Their life has changed for the better. Of course, they missed their family but they were together at all. And that was how they wanted to be for the rest of their lifes.


End file.
